Silent Enemy (episode)
Enterprise is attacked by an unknown alien starship, and Archer orders the crew to install experimental "phase cannons" which could make the ship more powerful. Summary The ''Enterprise'' encounters an alien ship. The captain tries to hail them, but gets no answer. The only information Malcolm Reed is able to gather from their first contact is that their ship is protected by a sensor-dampening field, preventing the Enterprise from scanning the vessel. Captain Archer orders Hoshi Sato to find out what Reed likes as a food for a special surpise birthday dinner they are planning. The alien ship returns, this time scanning the Enterprise before firing shots and retreating. Reed notices that their sensor dampening field goes down shortly before they fire their weapons. Knowing this, he manages some scans, which show that their new enemies are a biological species. Captain Archer decides to go back to Jupiter Station to have three phase cannons installed on the ship to better protect it. Trip Tucker and Reed don't agree that the Jupiter Station engineers should be performing the work, so they gather their staff and motivate them to get the work done first as a show of engineering capability. In the meantime, Sato is spending lots of com time trying to figure out what to surprise Reed with for his upcoming birthday. In all her communications, the most important fact she comes across is that he doesn't like fish. The aliens return a third time, disabling the Enterprise and boarding it to do some close proximity scans on the crew. When Archer and some crewmen find the intruders standing over unconcious crew members, he tries to make contact again. With no response and seeing his crew in danger, he fires on them with no apparent effect. The aliens leave the ship and damage the warp drive, stranding the Enterprise. While attempting to get backup, Sato soon discovers they destroyed two subspace amplifiers (Echo One and Echo Two) as well, preventing Enterprise from contacting either Earth or Vulcan. With the phase cannons installed, the crew proceeds to test them on an asteroid. However, the phase modulator overloads due to a sensor device the aliens had left aboard, causing the beam's yield to be ten times as powerful as expected, and causing a plasma recoil. The Captain sends an angry message to the aliens via the device before destroying it. Phlox helps Sato figure out that Reed has been taking medical treatments to allow him to eat fruits containing bromelain, notably pineapple. Sato thanks him. The aliens return again, and this time hail the Enterprise with a modified recording of Captain Archer (taken with their sensor device) demanding they surrender their "defenseless" vessel. With no intention of surrendering, the Enterprise fires on the alien vessel with the new phase cannons. The blast weakens its shields, but does little actual damage. Archer orders Reed to overload the phase cannons so that he can reproduce the extra yield from the cannon. With the blast, they are able to disable the enemy shields; two torpedoes finish the job of discouraging the attacking vessel, causing the aliens to flee. Archer announces that he has confidence in the engineering team, and he doesn't feel the need to return to Jupiter base to complete the weapons installation. The next day, Tucker, Reed, and Archer share a celebratory beer in engineering. Sato enters with a "special item" – the surprise birthday cake. Reed cuts into the cake, and is amazed to find it is pineapple – his favorite fruit. Background Information *The assignment patch worn by Reed's friend Mark Latrelle was in reality a NASA Mission Control logo. It was not revealed which starship or facility this logo belonged to, nor is it ever seen again. *The ship that attacked and boarded Enterprise is of the same configuration as the Kovaalan ships that attacked Enterprise in the subspace corridor in "E²". Links and References Guest Stars *Jane Carr as Mary Reed *Guy Siner as Stuart Reed *Paula Malcomson as Madeline Reed Co-Stars *John Rosenfeld as Mark Latrelle *Robert Mammana as Eddie (credited as "Engineer") *Unnamed Enterprise (NX-01) personnel Species Mentioned/Seen *Vulcan References allergy; apple juice; Archie; astronauts; beer; bromelain; catfish; Chef; chopsticks; Duvall; Echo One; Echo Two; eggs; Embarcadero; fish; grav-plating; halibut; hydrogen; Indian food; joule; Jupiter Station; Klaang; Kota Bharu; Luna; mahi mahi; Malaysia; Maureen; Mount McKinley; Natalie; octopus; ordnance officer; peanut butter; Pensacola; phase modulated energy weapon; phase cannon; pineapple; pizza; protein concentrate; Qo'noS; ravioli; Reed family; Royal Navy; San Francisco; scallops; sea bass; Shenandoah; subspace amplifier; subspace tranceiver array; swordfish; Vulcan High Command; water Category: ENT episodes de:Lautloser Feind es:Silent Enemy nl:Silent Enemy sv:Silent Enemy